Sunday, April 01, 2007

The Violent and Dirty Minds of the Compassionate Left (4.07.10)

Still mulling over the idea of "learned incapacity," the notion that "proper execution of every calling requires the disabling of certain kinds of intelligence. In a sense, you could say that certain cognitive specializations require a form of willed stupidity. Or, in Bion's language, you could say that certain otherwise normal people disconnect the links in their own mind in order to understand the world in terms of their specialty. They presumably have a choice in the matter, at least initially, whereas a mentally disturbed person engages in unconscious "attacks on linking," a primitive mental process that dismantles the scaffolding of the mind so as to prevent certain unwanted meanings from being "entertained."

But the dividing line between mental health and pathology is much more blurry than you might realize. Bion even said that all human beings have a "psychotic core" of the personality, a point of view with which I agree. This accounts for the very thin line between civilization and barbarity, a line which conservatives instinctively respect and appreciate, whereas leftists always take for granted. This is why the leftist is always complaining that things aren't better, whereas the conservative intuitively realizes how much worse things could be, and stands in awe of the structures of civil society that help turn beasts into men, generation by generation, one beast at a time.

And of course, this is why the conservative is horrified by the idea of tinkering with the very foundation of civil society, marriage, just to satisfy the inappropriate curiosity of mentally and spiritually disabled leftist social engineers, whose "learned incapacity," when merged with a political program, quickly goes from the mere absence of wisdom to the active presence of a destructive "willed stupidity." It is a form of hysterical blindness, except that the blindness consists of a large lacuna in the field of thought rather than the field of vision.

And like all hysterics, the personality of the willfully stupid leftist goes from being a centripetal thing, so to speak, to becoming a centrifugal event. I am sure you know people -- perhaps at a certain time of the month -- I didn't say that -- whose personalities are "events." As soon as they walk into a room or in front of a TV camera, you cannot be unaware of them, because they won't let you be. I'm not talking about charisma or about benevolent love, which also radiate from certain people. Rather, this is a person whose energy "agitates" those around them, and inducts them into their particular psychodrama. In short, it is "acting out" as a replacement for "thinking." This is why, for example, there is a total disconnect between the action of Iran and the thought of Britain, or the thought of Israel and the actions of Arab Muslims. It is why CAIR is obviously not a "civil rights" organization but a violent one. And it is also why Hillary or Edwards or Obama want to steal your money -- a violent action, not an idea.

Think of how an utterly insignificant person such as Anna Nicole Smith, even in death, has the moronic world of the MSM dancing to her tune. She is still an "event," but then so too is Karl Marx, whose faux system of thought continues to agitate minds and spur action in the present. He cannot stay buried in his dustbin, because his ideas are just too tempting to certain sick minds in need of intellectual cover for their acting out. It is as if he were the prophet of an anti-religion that substitutes action for thought. Except not "as if."

This in itself is a fascinating idea. It was one of Freud's first observations, and yet, it remains unappreciated, for we must always ask ourselves, "when is action action, and when is it a substitute for thought in order to unburden a disturbed mind?" At the same time, we must ask "when is thought thought?," because for many on the left, a thought is not an idea but an object to be used for some primitive purpose such as releasing aggression or blocking certain unwanted meanings.

Political correctness -- the cognitive Swiss Army knife of the left -- is an example of a collective attack on linking. It also deceives the person who engages in it, because PC is always able to operate freely under the pretext of "compassion," when it is actually quite aggressive and even violent. The leftist cannot be consciously aware of this violence, because one of the purposes of political correctness is to allow the leftist to behave violently while denying it -- and even tell themselves that they merely have "compassion," or "inclusiveness," or "tolerance," or some other benign motivation. This is the interior Lie that precedes and facilitates the exterior lie. Obviously, no politically correct leftist is able to tolerate the simple truth, which is that I am a violent liar using pseudo-thinking to attack others and impede their ability to arrive at truth.

However, the person on the business end of political correctness is well aware of the primitive and bullying violence, which is one of the reasons he is not a leftist. A sane person recognizes that Truth is without question the highest societal value, higher than love, higher than compassion, and certainly higher than democracy, i.e., the collective will -- which will simply devolve to the will to power in the absence of truth.

Truth is a "public" event that is replicable in others, whereas a lie is a private event that must be imposed upon others. I am reminded of the image of an ant hill. From what I understand of entomology -- which is not much -- ants possess a "private" stomach and a "public" one. If an ant with an empty stomach happens upon an ant with a full one, they bonk heads in such a way that the "have" will spit up something from his public stomach and share it with the "have not." This is a very efficient way to keep everyone fed, and it was obviously a mechanism selected to enhance survival of the group. (Hold that thought; we'll come back to it.)

As we were saying the other day (recalling a quip by Dennis Miller), there is the "earth" and there is the "world," two very different things. Human animals evolved on the earth, but the human being lives in the human world, which is not a physical object or space, but a subjective field of shared meaning. It is a virtual or "transitional space" that, to a large extent, "thinks" us, rather than vice versa.

For example, we are all born into a field of implicit meanings called the "family." Although we have one word for this arrangement -- "family" -- this obscures the fact that each family has its unique idiom and is different from the rest. Whoever we are in essence -- in other words, despite being born with a true self -- this self will still have to come into being and articulate itself in this or that family -- which may be a healthy family or an unhealthy one. And the internalization of the idiom of an unhealthy family may cripple us for life; instead of ushering our true self from potentiality to actuality, it may crush the self for reasons embodied in the pathological family structure, which holds the "unthought secret" of that family's past traumas in its encounter with the Real; families exist within an arc of intergenerational time no less than space.

Likewise, we all must articulate our selves in this or that culture. A culture is like a musical instrument through which we will "play" the self. Some cultures, such as in America, are like a symphony orchestra with a great range of instruments and countless different scores to play with, while some cultures are like a rusty harmonica with most of the holes blocked. If you are unlucky enough to be born in the Islamic world, you are essentially given a broken kazoo to express the full range of your humanness. That's if you're a man. If you're a woman, you don't even get the kazoo. Perhaps you can express your humanness by batting your eyes in this or that unique way.

There was a time not too long ago when the university was the place to go to see all the amazing instruments and hear all the beautiful scores. I know of no sane person who believes this any longer. Rather, the university has been hijacked by the willfully stupid for the purposes of acting out. Of all the institutions in America, it is ironically the one place where the ideal of Truth has been successfully dethroned and violently replaced with various faux substitutes such as "diversity" or the absurd anti-Truth of relativism.

Back to the anthill. In order for humans to efficiently move about in psycho-spiritual space, there must be a way for them to "bump heads" and share truth with one another. Isn't that why you come to One Cosmos, to bump caps with other Coons and pass a little truth from mind to mind? We live in strange times, for, on the one hand, the development of the internet means that human ants are able to bump heads and exchange truth in an instantaneous way never dreamt of before.

But what is going on with those pissanthills -- dailykos, or huffingtonpost? What are they exchanging when they bump heads? -- for it certainly isn't "thought," much less "truth." What is it? For one thing, it is violence -- always violence. In fact, one needn't go to the fringes of the left in order to sense this pervasive violence against the human spirit, for it now infects the mainstream. I can no longer read the New York Times or the L.A. times without being very aware of the violence -- of journalism as "event," or spur to action, rather than thought.

With regard to the dreadful L.A. Times, this violence used to be confined to the editorial pages, which I suppose one can tolerate. After all, there are polemicists across the political spectrum. But what I found so objectionable is the gradual permeation of this violence into every other part of the paper -- the entertainment section, the "lifestyle" section, the sports section, and even the real estate section -- which might, for example, disingenuously feature a homosexual pair, not for the purpose of conveying useful information about real estate, but for the purpose of ham-handedly indoctrinating readers with a leftist agenda -- a covert attack on the traditional family.

I suppose the last straw for me was when the political correctness began infecting even the sports page. I remember once about 15 years ago, there was a despicable manufactured controversy about the Lakers' announcer Chick Hearn, an absolutely beloved and legendary figure in L.A. sports. I listened to him from the age of 10, and a part of me died with him in 2002, since which time it just hasn't been the same, hoops-wise. Hearn is without a doubt the greatest basketball announcer in history, having spontaneously come up with most of its colorful vocabulary, such as slam dunk, dribble drive, popcorn machine, finger-roll, frozen rope, airball, yo-yo-ing up and down, give-and-go, garbage time, bunny hop in the pea patch, didn't draw iron, nervous time, no harm no foul, tosses up a prayer, count if it goes, heart brrrrrreak!, and many others.

Anyway, one time Magic Johnson was bringing the ball up court and Chick said something to the effect that "his eyes are rolling around like a pinball machine!," which they were. But sure enough, there was a press inquisition into whether this was a racist comment, since it supposedly brought to mind minstrel shows and degrading images of blacks with their eyes bugging out of their heads. As always, the racist left is obsessed with race but attributes this obsession to others, for who else but a twisted leftist would make this absurd connection?

Then, about a decade ago, the same thing happened when a player made a slam sunk and held onto the rim. Chick says "give that man a banana!" Once again, the foul-minded race baiters came out of the hardwood, wondering if Hearn realized what a racist comment this was to equate blacks and monkeys. Again, what kind of sick mind would make such a connection?

I suppose the same people who equate hurricanes and racism, or confuse liberation with occupation, or who cannot tell the difference between Israel and the Muslim savages who wish to destroy it, or who saw Karl Rove's goofy rap routine and wonder if it was actually a racist insult.

Speaking of which, if you don't have any Lou in your collection, you may be somewhat culturally deprived -- or at least not a true coonnoisseur. After all, Natural Man might very well be the Coon anthem.

Raccoon anthem, you foul-minded racist troll.

But, you know, things are changing nowadays. It's a new day, babies. Folks want to take their own lives into their hands and make their own choices. No longer do they wanna go along with the program 'cause everybody say it's right. You know what I mean? Let me tell ya what I'm talkin' about, ya see, 'cause...

I want to be, happy and free Livin' and loving for me I want to be, happy and free Livin' and lovin' for me Just like a natural man (like a natural man) A natural man (like a natural man) --Lou Rawls, Natural Man

81 comments:

Bob didn't say:"I am sure you know people -- perhaps at a certain time of the month -- I didn't say that -- whose personalities are "events." As soon as they walk into a room or in front of a TV camera, you cannot be unaware of them, because they won't let you be. I'm not talking about charisma or about benevolent love, which also radiate from certain people. Rather, this is a person whose energy "agitates" those around them, and inducts them into their particular psychodrama."

Nope. I don't know anybody like that. And if I did, which I don't, I wouldn't cop to it.

I like so much of what is said here but just hate to see it dragged out of the vertical by the lyrics of banal and trivial pop, blues, or whatever songs. I realize that some think that it helps pull it up but I think your starting place is usually a lot higher than your ending place when you end it with the lyrics of someone's song.

The mystery is, why do some people turn into raccoons, and others into willfully stupid leftists?

All factors tend to even out: nurture, environment, genetics, etc.

I propose another explanation: reincarnation.

Raccoons are people with experience in previous lives, and so tend to be spiritually smart.

Leftists must be newbies, and ignorant and willfully disobedient to God like adolescents are to their fathers. They need more lives under their belts until they will make raccoons.

This hypothesis explains why the schism between raccoons and leftists exists.

The proper relationship of raccoon toward the leftist should be parental, mentoring, and nurturing, so that they progress more quickly. They may not make it there in this life, but we should get used to thinking in terms of multiple lives.

How can we be the best parents to our unruly juniors? That is the question.

I'll agree to a point about mentoring. But I doubt a single Leftist can be won over by "bumping heads" and imparting knowlege, since they're not even aware of a need.

Piquing thirst in another is what will move them from delusion to reality; by quietly finding the hunger behind the Leftist rhetoric, and making that hunger burn even more. If you can bring them to a question that they've willfully avoided (a learned stupidity) you may gain entrance and thoughtful discussion.

Trolls come in here with the same tactic, actually. Raccoons by their nature are very open-minded, a bit too curious, and easy to talk to. But what most trolls find out is that along with all the silly looks that 'Coons are graced with, all their fun-loving easiness, is a vitally balanced "coon vision" that can spot insincerity a mile away. Trolls just cannot fake it, be they ever so clever. Upon being found out, they close their eyes and think thusly that they are hidden while they project all sorts of agendas on the 'Coons.

After poking the trolls a few more times, to see if they'll open their eyes to all the beauty and fun they're missing out on, Raccoons will wander off and play music and smoke cigars.

This has nothing to do with Bob's post, but it's Sunday and a 'Coon's gotta go with the Slack.

"I am sure you know people... whose personalities are "events." As soon as they walk into a room or in front of a TV camera, you cannot be unaware of them, because they won't let you be. I'm not talking about charisma or about benevolent love, which also radiate from certain people. Rather, this is a person whose energy "agitates" those around them, and inducts them into their particular psychodrama."

They've gotten contraband music, but still, eyelashes probably get tangled in the mesh.

Wonderful post. Give the man a banana for his Frühstück.

The stuff about PC is very, very important. It makes inquiring thought taboo [even on neutral subjects!], by threatening that if you think it, you might say it, and be an outcast. Coons might think -- and it might be somewhat true for a few -- that we can go it alone. But (a) nobody can, really; and (b) the young, the uncertain, and the weak, are at real hazard with what PC does to the mind and the character. Confusion, despair, nothing good.

PC, too expensive for the spirit. Politeness and minding our own business in indifferent matters, though: priceless.

Gotta disagree with you here. Even if we strive to be 'not of the world', we DO live in it.

I like that Bob and others share examples of 'as above, so below': they help me flesh-out concepts discussed here & remind me that this stuff is NOT just in my own head, but is, or can be, a shared human experience.

But then, I'm not at all pious, having tried that coat on & found it too limiting and frankly: dull.

When I look around me & see just how fortunate I am, compared to others who have lived on this earth in the past or now, I can't help but feel that it's spitting on God's gifts to not embrace the 'whole existentialada' that has been handed to me, on a silver platter.

The wonder that is His creation, shown via instantaneous link to Hubble images, that I get to be born an American, that I can coonmune on this blog, that I have the luxury to choose work I can like & that I get Beaky as a companion, rather than as a food-source.

Seems to me that it's possible to get too caught-up in striving for 'the vertical' constantly, to the exclusion & avoidance of 'earthly life'. As tho that's what REALLY pleases God. Constant prayer & praise, in a formal, ritualistic manner.

But He gave us this existence, here on His created earth. Is it not also 'constant prayer & praise' of O to appreciate and enjoy what is gifted to us here?

He gave us the capacity to do so. Does not make sense, and is wrong IMO, that we're 'not to'. More of a man-made restriction, than what God wants, of & for us. Treating O like 'daddy' & squandering His gift of life, for constant fear of his 'displeasure'. Smacks of 'Your God is too Small'.

HEADS UP: even if this comment posts, I may not be able to get this @#%&$ machine to let me in again, and thus able to respond.

This morning: Joseph Phillips was on re 'He Talk Like A White Boy', a Coonster even if he don't gno the label. For those interested in 'role models' based on skin pigment, he seems to be a promising candidate.

PS: Beaky is on my wrist as I write this and wants to say HI EVERYONE!

Ho Beakinfidelcoonster,It's me, Merlin, the Amazoncoonster, glad to have you back. My human has abandoned me to bird camp in Carpenteria ( yes, the food is organic and both the indoor and outdoor cages beautifully and colorfully decorated ) while in the domain of the people's republic of east Maui

Love those rappin ROPers - the burkini might work when they use their non profit to fly in a goriac jet to Hawaii for their next recording session. Instead of the traditional luau featuring PIG we could arrange a coconut feast with those green cocos cut in one swift precise machette move to illustrate how Hawaians can chop when they need to. Gecko's surfing and slackin'.

Bob,For some reason today, I read the Comments before I read your post, and wondered, "What got Mr. Bunny so shook up?" Once I read your considered rant, I understood.

"One of the purposes of political correctness is to allow the leftist to behave violently while denying it." I agree completely.

And, "This is the interior Lie that preceded and facilitates the exterior lie." Yes, and I "get" the capital 'L' on the first lie, and as for the statement, say "Exactly so!"

I believe it was William Rusher, the (then) publisher of National Review, who once said that his main problem with the Democratic Party was that it "mined stupidity" from its constituents. This insight is closely related to your "willed stupidity" amongst leftists.

So you agitated the wabbit, but I thought this post was a great way to begin April.

"Schools [in the UK] are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed. It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.

"There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades... because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques. ...

"The study... found some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic and anti-Israel reactions in class."

"John McCain and Lindsay Graham gave a press conference in Baghdad, at which CNN correspondent Michael Ware heckled the Senators, 'laughing and mocking' them, according to an official who was present.

"Maybe Ware was drunk; that would be consistent with his own description of how he spends his time in Baghdad. But he is an extreme manifestation of an all too common phenomenon -- the journalist who wants to make the news, not report it. One of the many problems with a reporter who becomes an activist, agitating for a particular side of a public issue, is that he loses any hope of objective. Having publicly committed himself to the proposition that everything that happens in Iraq is a disaster, having publicly ridiculed those who pointed to optimistic developments, how can anyone trust that Ware's future reporting is giving us anything like the straight story from Iraq? And what does his conduct say about his employer, CNN? How much confidence can we have in their reporting from Baghdad, or anywhere else?"

I recently spent a few days on the road, and so, got to absorb some TV News - a "joy" I gladly do not have in my home. While pausing for a few moments on CNN, they reported that President Bush was asking for EVEN MORE troops for Iraq. The News Anchor asked (and this is verbatim), "With the vast majority of the American people opposed to the War, does the President know something we don't, or is he simply delusional?"

Later that same evening, I got to watch 10 minutes of a "panel" discussion hosted by Bill Maher. His guests were Deepak Chopra, and Roseanne Barr (she is now a meditator AND a social critic). Folks, you can well imagine....

(Coons might find roseanneworld.com to be instructive, in light of Bob's post today. If nothing else, you'll be interested in her insights about meditation.)

A bit of a coonfession, if such are allowed here. Pretty much off-topic, making the author the real April's fool, so feel free to ignore.

March should, by all accounts, have been a disaster. My house was burgled -- not content with kicking the garage door in, the bad guys broke a window to gain entry, then stole stupid stuff -- a bowl full of loose change, a vacuum cleaner, a DVD player and a couple of locked boxes, one of which had a small coin collection of more sentimental than monetary value.

Frankly, they didn’t take much that will be missed. They didn’t take either of the sound systems. They didn't take the Martin medium-large bore C trumpet or the Bach large bore C trumpet. The former is a nifty instrument for small ensemble work, the latter is suited for symphonic work, indeed, it even saw some of that back in the day when I played as an extra for the Houston Symphony Orchestra. The Martin was used in a number of local pop-music groups even more backer in the day.

(Many years ago, just before giving up the pursuit of music as a career, I auditioned for second chair in the San Antonio Orchestra. My god ... wall-to-wall trumpeters there were, seeking a position in, well ... it wasn’t exactly Chicago, if you catch my drift. The realization that it was more likely that one could become a brain surgeon than principle trumpet in a world-class orchestra (and what else would have sufficed?), along with some really destructive behavior led, eventually, to my deciding about a decade ago that it would be best to, you know, sober up after, um, say, twenty-five years of more-or less continual inebriation (kids, don't try this at home). Realistically, there are a number of successful orchestral players who have found themselves in the same boat so there’s no excuse for my misbehavior.)

Where was I? Oh yeah. Not quite two weeks after my house was burgled, a restructuring at work (seventeen years on the job) placed me out of a low-level management position and into an as-of-yet undefined one.

Oddly, I am grateful for these calamities because they shook me out of a really stale routine and gave me reason to reevaluate, well, just about everything. A lot of food for thought without much pain: as trouble goes, this really could have been a lot worse.

The timing is a puzzlement. That I had already embarked on some sort of interior journey before March and was looking for "something else" is certain. For example, One Cosmos had become the only site (out of dozens) I looked forward to visiting on a daily basis (Don’t get around much any more). And I may even have a developed a bit of compassion for those who stumble upon sites whilst purposelessly ambling around the web! Or perhaps that's just dyspepsia.

Parting coonfession: as it pertains to music I am still quite the sanctimonious one. Perhaps one day I shall merely be opinionated.

Parting thoughts: Bill Evans’ modesty and hard work were integral parts of his greatness. His description of one minute’s worth of music in one minute is probably as fine a description of quality improvisation as one could find.

I will posit here for your consideration that there is an eternities worth of music in less than an hour’s worth of music in Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 132 in A minor. There may be better recordings than the Quartetto Italiano’s performance, but I really like the way the ensemble handled that material.

Late Convert,While I am sorry to hear of your recent troubles, I can't help but be glad to see that good things seem to be coming along the way. Speaking personally, the lowest periods in my life have usually been a springboard to something far better. I hope the same holds true for you.

Re Michael Ware: I wonder if there are any studies or books about the influence of Hunter S. Thompson and "Gonzo Journalism"on Fifth Estate boorishness, narcissism and nihilism. Several decades' worth of journalists have been heavily influenced by HST's brew of self-indulgent buffoonery and furious denial of an objective, reportable Truth, and it sounds like Ware probably drank deeply from that poisonous concoction.

Bob, your mention of Chick Hearn brings back a flood of memories. My family moved to SoCal in the early sixties and my first awareness of something special was listening to Vin Scully call a Dodger game as we drove through the Arizona desert.

As a kid, I was not a Laker fan - I was a Wilt Chamberlain fan, who, at the time, played for the San Francisco Warriors. The Lakers and the Warriors played each other often in those days and there was no greater pleasure than listening to Chick call the games on radio or with a simulcast on TV. No one has ever painted a better verbal picture of such a fast moving sport. What Scully did for baseball, Chick Hearn did for basketball, at hyper speed.

Later, when Wilt became a Laker, I felt as if I'd died and gone to heaven. In those years, basketball seemed like such a vital and integral part of my life and Chick was a big part of that. During the epic battles against the hated Celtics, I used to keep score while I listened to the game. When the Lakers were on national TV, I'd turn off the sound and listen to the radio while I watched. It was magic before there was Magic.

Perhaps you recall a comment of mine a while back, regarding a fused 'visual' of you as a Zen monk, using a push-broom on a concrete walkway at my school in Argentina.

Beaky & I went looking for that school's website for alumni info today. Lo & behold they've updated it with photos: now you can see EXACTLY where that visual was placed. Thought it might amuse.

Go to: http://www.lincoln.edu.ar

third pic down on right margin------------

Late convert:

Contrary to what the blindtrolls who frequent this blog would have you believe, we are not locksteppers.

I find Bob's articulation of Coonvision & what it entails fascinating & brilliantly executed, while much of his musical taste does nothing for me.Bach & Puccini get me totally juiced, while Mozart sounds like not much more than muzak. Go figure.

While many Coons get all worked up about American sports stuff, it fails to interest me. If it were World Class Soccer or Professional Waterpolo, now we'd be talkin!

If that makes me 'unevolved', so be it. Bet I get more out of creating with food than Bob does, based on his not using foodie stuff for analogies in his writing.In my book, that makes Bob 'unevolved' in the food department.

I lay claim to the title of CoonFoodSnob in perpetuity!(Gotcha there MizzE)

I would, nonetheless (and in the time-honored boorish way of the true snob), recommend for your or other's coonsideration two CDs featuring Alfred Brendel and Sir Charles Mackerras with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Both the one featuring Mozart's Piano Concertos in D minor and C minor and the one featuring his Piano Concertos in E flat major and B flat major are great examples of Mozart at his peak. It is said that the last movement of the C minor Concerto greatly disquieted audiences of the day due to its inexorable nature.

While I'm going on and on, one might also want to become friends with Julian Bream's "Music of Spain" (Granados Albeniz). Bream was arguably the greatest of the twentieth century classical guitarists; he had the ability to make the guitar sound like a small orchestra.

This CD would surely be easier on kits ears than most Beethoven or Mozart. It makes great dinner music, but it seems sort of a shame to treat it so menially.

I believe we start out knowing truth as kids but wanting to do the right thing even if that thing is not being exactly truthful if we think that the truth is going to hurt someone’s feelings, particularly our parents. So we edit our words and it gets to be a habit, especially in denial ridden households. Leftists then take this proclivity and turn it into a religion with millions of pre-indoctrinated, wet behind the ears students, and truth gets replaced with P.C., so as not to offend anyone. I saw this pattern with myself, starting with my relationship to the denial of my parents and extending to others. If I said things which were truthful to others, I still felt guilty if they were upset by it. Gradually I learned more tact but began to separate myself from their reactions in that I looked to the motives behind what I spoke. Was it truthful but meant to harm, or was it the truth and meant to help, even if it cut to the quick? If the latter, I discovered that I didn’t need to go cower in the corner, ashamed of myself but could actually continue the conversation in a rational way and could actually help the other person break through to the truth themselves. It became a way of putting truth above clan affiliations or wanting to br liked and grew as I began using it more. Some people don‘t want to hear the truth and therefore true words spur anger in them which they then project back on the messenger. That angry burst back at me no longer affects me if my motives are pure, I can dust off my sandles and move on. I’m no longer guilty for what’s not mine. It has become a blessing that my will is less involved in speaking the truth, I no longer have to convince anyone, just put it out there and let others decide through their own free will what to do with it. Ever notice how leftists are from some of the most relationally screwed up families on earth and blame everyone but themselves for their lot? Then when they take power they screw everyone else‘s life up with their “fixes“? (Yeah, Hillary, I’m talkin’ about you!) Don’t ever stop speaking the truth. It’s “for the children”, literally.

Bob,This is likely very common. But I think it may be even worse.I think many so-called reporters start as activists in their hearts before they even become ournalists.I read a poll of journalist students once that showed when asked why they wanted to become journalists, most answered, “…to correct social injustice.”Sounds like that reporter brings the ‘story’ with him and projects it onto …well… everything.

Hoarhey said:"Some people don‘t want to hear the truth and therefore true words spur anger in them which they then project back on the messenger. That angry burst back at me no longer affects me if my motives are pure, I can dust off my sandles and move on. I’m no longer guilty for what’s not mine. It has become a blessing that my will is less involved in speaking the truth, I no longer have to convince anyone, just put it out there and let others decide through their own free will what to do with it."

Bravo Zulu Hoarhey! Your entire comment was steeped in truth and written beautifully.

Thanks for the musical reparte. I just finished playing the last of 4 gigs this weekend (local jazz festival), and was reading the comments about classical music, so I went and listened to some Lutoslawski and then somehow wound up listening to the Supremes. It was fun to hear them again. It's been awhile.

LC: I spoke to young man who, of all things, loves HAYDN! His excuse: he's a vocalist and is enamored of the vocal fugues. I have 90% or so of his keyboard works and they are interesting, but only perhaps in an academic or aerobic sense. Mozart on the other hand, played with the right hands is a three-course meal in aural cuisine...

You're not a violent liar, you are rather something else. Perhaps a nihilist: your criticism against Marxism, at least as presented in today's post, is an argument against the aggressive barbarity of action which comes at the expense of thought. This argument which taken to its full logical deployment condemns all action, for surely you must know full well there is never a fully ontologically grounded action and that concrete ethical commitments invariably demand a leap of faith from thought to action. And if you are willing to endorse this notion of practical ethics then perhaps rather than a nihilist you are a hypocrite, for the arguments you present against the aggressiveness of action rather than thought will link to your act as well. Or perhaps you are a blogger who does not edit his posts to fully think through the implications of the arguments he presents. Since your posts are often somewhat thoughtful, I'd put my money on this last option.

I'm not a violent liar, I am rather something else. Perhaps a nihilist: my criticism against common sense, at least as presented in today's post, is an argument for the aggressive barbarity of action which comes at the expense of thought. This argument which taken to its full logical deployment condemns all sane action, for surely you must know full well there is never a fully ontologically grounded socialist action and that concrete ethical secularist commitments invariably demand a leap of faith from thought to action. And if I am willing to endorse this notion of practical socialist ethics then perhaps rather than a nihilist I am a hypocrite, for the arguments I present for the aggressiveness of action rather than thought will link to my act as well. Or perhaps I am a stoner who does not edit my posts to fully think through the implications of the arguments I present. Oh forget it, where'd I put that bong?

jwm said...It's late, and I just checked the post and comments. Thank you, Ximeze, for that link. It's funny. I frequently remember of your comment when I get called for day shift, which, of course, means doing lunch detail. Sometimes as I think on it, I can catch a glimpse of the Zen, and even manage a step or two in time with the music. I have OC, and the Coons to thank for that. Many thanks.

This place is CRAWLING with music snobs - so you're too late to be special in that regard. The good news is that the snobbery is not relegated to one genre, style, coonposer, performer, etc. AND the snobs are friendly if not prodded with too sharp a baton.

While an admirer of Bream as well, I am particularly taken with Jason Vieaux's interpretations of Albeniz. Familiar?

Now if you could just bottle that and sell it, Hoarhey, it might be the greatest mental miracle cure the world has ever seen. I've often thought that so much of our culture revolves around forcing undeserved guilt onto people as a means for controlling them.

In his posts Bob has eloquently made an irreftuable case that there are two classes of people: the spiritually advanced (raccoons) and the spiritually resistant or unconscious (leftists and their ilk).

There is a demographic in the middle of these two extremes that is neither the problem or the solution, and these can be discounted.

Clearly, the leftists are the problem, and they are a problem because they have siezed the strings of government.

Raccoons are the solution, but are at a place where they do not have the strings of government in their paws.

It follows that the purpose of Bob's political blogging is to set the stage for a gradual transfer of effective power from the leftists to the raccoons. This is for the good of all mankind.

This transfer of power must be effected by spiritual means and by spiritual methods, otherwise the raccoons will lose the very quality that makes them so fit to govern, ie, spiritual superiority.

It follows that the only pathway available is to convince a large segment of the leftists to change their inner selves and embrace God, the first step towards raccoonity.

All raccoons must be "subtle evangelists" like joan of arrrgghh suggests--and apply nudges and incentives and teachings that lead slowly all leftists to the correct path.

The task may take decades or centuries so the raccoons must be patient.

Raccoons must be alert for leadership ques from a small class of people I'll call "ubercoons" who are even more spiritually advanced than raccoons. Bob has not spoken of these because he probably hasn't made contact with any and doesn't know of their existence.

Soon he will make contact with one, I predict.

There will also be a gathering of the raccoons in Yosemite this September; be on the lookout for clues as to precisely when and where this will occur.

In the meantime, there is only one salient question that God's favored beings, the raccoons, shall ask: "What can I give?"

For all raccoons' cups do runneth over with gifts from God. How fortunate are all of you among men!

What can you give to the Great Cause which Bob has set in front of you?

"Now if you could just bottle that and sell it, Hoarhey, it might be the greatest mental miracle cure the world has ever seen. I've often thought that so much of our culture revolves around forcing undeserved guilt onto people as a means for controlling them."

The sad part Julie is that it's free and available to all just for the taking.

Once again Bob you have served up a nuanced and credibly ferreted rarity. What a curious repast. It must be the visual that draws me, the spectacle of the feast. For try as I might, and succulent as the aroma, your insistence on dipping and breading even the most delicate morsels in shite keeps me from taking sustenance at your table. Lest I be chided and chivved for stopping, I always love peeking in the window at the scavengers preening over and about their finds.

Riddle me this: is right still right without wrong? Wouldn't ascension still be ascension without achieving velocity by running through someone else's wet cement? Racoon. Rancor. Rangoon. Full moon. Sharpen your sense of smell, compadre. Lots of perfume, but the posts still stink.

man, they don't get it. These trolls are weak. They screw the pooch, every time, in the first paragraph.

Here, let me show the last two what they did:

'In his posts Bob has eloquently made an irreftuable case that there are two classes of people: the spiritually advanced (raccoons) and the spiritually resistant or unconscious (leftists and their ilk).'

Marxist filter set to: ON

and then...

'Once again Bob you have served up a nuanced and credibly ferreted rarity. What a curious repast. It must be the visual that draws me, the spectacle of the feast. For try as I might, and succulent as the aroma, your insistence on dipping and breading even the most delicate morsels in shite keeps me from taking sustenance at your table.'

I'll be honest with you, I turn you off after those lines. I don't need my mind abused by such things. Its like a bunch of miniature clockwork oranges all happening at fast-forward speed (which happens in the movie, by the way...)

Jeez Walt, I figured open derision for the hai-coon's method of scoring points was about as unambiguous as can be. Sorry to be so oblique. BTW... was, er, anyone working the door when you walked in?

Ben, I just heard there's half price drinks on the poop deck!

River, Bob has taken one of Dilys' ascenscion-inducing nuggets and in only two posts has managed to beat it into a fleshed in diatribe against leftist (fill in the blank: blindness, bullying, barbarism, stupidity, whatever's the fear of the day)...

Come on guys, is this news to anyone here? Does this actually advance anyone on their path? It is what it is, Riverman: Shiterolling, disguised as pious act or highbrow discussion. Go ahead – smell your fur.

PC is still PC, even when practiced inside the den. Why should I mask my contempt?

"The sad part Julie is that it's free and available to all just for the taking."

True enough, Hoarhey. A lot of people just wouldn't believe it to be valuable unless there was a very big dollar sign stuck on the front.

Saff,If it reeks so much here, why waste your time stopping by? If it's "train wreck theory" from your point of view, why would you want us to change anything? It wouldn't be nearly so entertaining for you.

I think I need to clarify: I do draw some sustenance from this blog, despite my earlier denial of same. Generally from the comments and commenters, as I can more easily absorb Bob's message after it filters through some of the other personalities. I don't comment often because I'm here to learn, not teach. I know the blog could be so much better, and often is, without the crap such as is posted under this uplifting heading. ("The Violent and Dirty Minds of the Compassionate Left"). I see no value in Bob's continual drubbing and flensing of his Leftist Boogeyman, save to exorcise demons Bob feels need exorcising. That is his right, but I don't have to pretend that it is somehow uplifting or even fitting behavior for a coon. You may call me rude, and I may call you Politically Correct. Shame on who.

I would think an individual as enlightened as yourself would have already figured out that he needs to come here to appease his covetousness and express his smarmy contempt in an attempt to raise himself above his current low grade station. And in such a poetic manner. Too bad Bob isn't doing it your way, he could be taking advantage of the fulfillment of sniping at higher quality men from the obscurity of his own loathsome, empty and contemptuous life.The fact that anyone even responds to you sort of eases the pain a bit, doesn't it? Too bad Bob didn't throw you the bone you were looking for.You haven't learned JACK asshole.

"When is action action, and when is it a substitute for thought in order to unburden a disturbed mind?"

Not answered by a cool-ly dramatic mischievous recursive false paradox. Anonymous says: "This argument which taken to its full logical deployment condemns allaction, for surely you must know full well there is never a fullyontologically grounded action"

This approach must end in paralytic death of human agency, or the increasingly evil whims of relativistic nihilism, since only faith "keeps paradoxes from turning into crude antitheses."

Escaping the circle of robotic logic, Gil Bailie quotes now-Benedict with the answer for existential existence:

Man comes in the profoundest sense to himself not through what he does but through what he accepts....Theprimacy of acceptance is not intended to condemn man to passivity; itdoes not mean that man can now sit idle. On the contrary, it alonemakes it possible to do the things of this world in a spirit ofresponsibility, yet at the same time in an uncramped, cheerful, freeway, and to put them at the service of redemptive love.

This offers an opportunity to work out these issues the only sane and practial way -- with attention to the inner choreography, not robotic-logic potshots bent on reducing glimmers of light -- Zeno's cousins in a, well, let's call it a circle-dance.

Well, since you seem to know what the world is, and what it isn't, maybe you could explain what it really is?

And if you disapprove so strongly of what Bob writes, why even come here? Why not start your own blog, wherein you could expound on the true nature of the world, and give yourself more sustenance and not concern yourself with Bob's "evil" opinions?

No heavyness whatsoever in what I said. The truth isn't heavy. But your cynisism IS tediously transparent. It actually keeps you from learning anything and assures that you are wasting your time here except in the negagative fullfillment of what I posted above. You're addicted. :)

I just realized why Bob's post got such a rise out of you. The title of the post is the perfect description of you. In your hubris, did you feel like he was baiting you?"The Violent and Dirty Minds of the Compassionate Left"And you proved his point perfectly.

Hi all....Sigh, I was foolish enough to miss the day, in fact I haven't even caught up to tomorrow yet. Sorry I missed you Ximeze... uhm, perhaps Joan can suggest some pennance for the the Mozart comments... then again....

The day fairly well lived up to its billing, still though I find myself bored with the lack of quality in our latest trolls. No meat, no fat, no flavor, kind of like boild soup bones without the soup. This coon's getting hungry, and all that strays into the den are these bland buffoons? Ah well, perhaps a bite for exercise.

friend of the raccoons said... "It follows that the purpose of Bob's political blogging is to set the stage for a gradual transfer of effective power from the leftists to the raccoons. This is for the good of all mankind."

Somehow I feel sure that you don't limit the days festivities to April.

saffron n' shite said... "Riddle me this: is right still right without wrong?" Yes. Do you and fotr correspond regularly? "Why should I mask my contempt? " No need to wonder, you don't. "I can more easily absorb Bob's message after it filters through some of the other personalities." Hense the latter part of your nic.

What About Bob?

Who spirals down the celestial firepole on wings of slack, seizes the wheel of the cosmic bus, and embarks upin a bewilderness adventure of higher nondoodling? Who, haloed be his gnome, loiters on the threshold of the transdimensional doorway, looking for handouts from Petey? Who, with his doppelgägster and testy snideprick, Cousin Dupree, wields the pliers and blowtorch of fine insultainment for the ridicure of assouls? Who is the gentleman loaffeur who yoinks the sword from the stoned philosopher and shoves it in the breadbasket of metaphysical ignorance and tenure? Whose New Testavus for the Restavus blows the locked doors of the empyrean off their rusty old hinges and sheds a beam of intense darkness on the world enigma? Who is the Biggest Fakir of the Vertical Church of God Knows What, channeling the roaring torrent of 〇 into the feeble stream of cyberspace? Who is the masked pandit who lobs the first water balloon out the motel window at the annual Raccoon convention? Who is your nonlocal partner in disorganized crimethink? Shut your mouth! But I'm talkin' about bʘb! Then we can dig it!

Goround ZerO:

Search and Ye Never Knows What Ye Might Find:

The Cosmic Area Rug:

The empty center is Beyond-Being. The circles are dimensions of Being. Your life is a path for the Spirit to pass from periphery to center. Thoughts and choices -- truth and virtue -- are the paving stones.

Only Error is Transmitted:

Buck Mulligan, Official Mascot

Official Sponsor of the Kosmic Kit Scouts, Laniakea Supercluster Chapter

Fuck You: War

Late last night, in search of light, I watched a ball of fire streak across the midnight sky. I watched it glow, then grow, then shrink, then sink into the silhouette of morning. As I watched it die, I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a lot in common with that light.’ That’s right. I’m alive with the fire of my life, which streaks across my span of time and is seen by those who lift their eyes in search of light to help them though the long, dark night. --Nilsson

We see that yesterday is our birthday, today is our life, and tomorrow we are gone. So we have just one day to learn all we need to know, and that day is today. --Petey